Friday’s dismal jobs report will back President Barack Obama into a corner and make him a “desperate person” with the election now five months away, says Florida Rep. Allen West.

“When you’re a desperate person — much the same as a cat being cornered – you’re going to come out and really fight even stronger,” predicted West in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV shortly after the Labor Department reported that U.S. employers had created only 69,000 jobs in May.

Watch our exclusive interview. Story continues below.

That figure is the lowest in a year and led to the unemployment rate ticking up, fueling fears that the economy is heading in the wrong direction under the president’s stewardship.

“I think that the president’s policies are failing the American people,” explained West. “We have now hit 40 consecutive months of unemployment in the United States of America at or above 8 percent.”

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney quickly labeled the jobs numbers “devastating news for American workers and American families,” while House Speaker John Boehner said it’s clear that Americans are in a “desperate spot.”

“It is now clear to everyone that President Obama’s policies have failed to achieve their goals and that the Obama economy is crushing America’s middle class,” Romney said.

House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price of Georgia said that that the jobs report reflects economic growth in America that continues to “disappoint and underperform.”

Jennifer Korn of the Hispanic Leadership Network said the news has been particularly devastating for the Hispanic community.

“Hispanics are still experiencing an all-time high unemployment rate of 11.0 percent,” she said, asking Obama, “Mr. President where are the jobs?"

The May jobless report follows April figures that also came in weaker than forecast and were revised down further today, to a 77,000 gain — news that prompted billionaire businessman Donald Trump to tweet: “The economy is in deep trouble.”

Reports released yesterday showed the economy grew less than initially estimated during the first quarter, and business activity in May expanded at the slowest pace in more than two years. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose to a one-month high in the week ended May 26, according to Bloomberg.

West, who was elected in 2010, said that the actual unemployment rate of the nation is closer to 14.5 percent when you consider the under employed and those people who have dropped off the unemployment rolls.
“President Obama is pretty much in a corner,” declared West, who is a member of the House Tea Party Caucus. “It’s a very much desperate situation for him because as three years and six months into this recovery . . . we know that this is the worst economic recovery that we have seen in the United States of America’s history.”

An Army veteran, who served for more than 20 years in the military, West said that President Obama’s policies have been an “abject failure” for the country. “These policies are not helping the private sector to grow and create job opportunities that are necessary to turn this economic situation around,” he charged.

“And I think that what President Obama is doing in trying to attack Gov. Romney is not what the American people are looking for. They’re looking for solutions. They’re looking for leadership. They’re looking for a statesman,” West added.

He said that Romney must now present a plan to the American people of how he will turn the economy around much the same way that Ronald Reagan did back in the 1980s.

“When you make the comparative analysis with President Ronald Reagan when he was coming out of that recession, GDP growth was somewhere between 6 and 6.5 percent,” according to West, who said that GDP growth under Obama is around 1.9 percent.

“We know that the debt to GDP ratio is still very high. And that is a very bad indicator for him,” asserted West. “I think Gov. Romney now has to really show his economic prowess and come out with a very good strategic plan to turn this economy around.”